Groups Sue For Cook County, Ill., Judge Assignment Records

By Andrea Keckley

Two public interest groups and a legal news outlet sued the chief judge of Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, the circuit clerk and the state's court administration director, alleging they withheld records showing when judges were authorized to handle other judges' cases, potentially concealing unauthorized rulings.

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Illinois' Curbs On Kalshi Sports Contracts Blocked For Now

By Elaine Briseño

An Illinois federal judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its gambling license requirements against Kalshi and Coinbase on Friday, saying that the companies' core sports betting contracts are likely federally regulated swaps.

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Verogen Genealogy Website Can't Escape DNA Privacy Suit

By Joyce Hanson

A California federal judge has preserved a proposed class action against the owner-operator of a genetic genealogy website, finding that the plaintiffs sufficiently showed that a technical loophole wrongly let law enforcement circumvent user opt-out privacy settings.

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High Court Won't Hear Chicago Workers' Vaccine Appeal

By Celeste Bott

The U.S. Supreme Court again refused Monday to weigh in on a challenge to COVID-19 vaccine and testing requirements for Chicago city workers, declining to take up the case after the Seventh Circuit refused to revive their lawsuit in December.

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McDonald's Accused Of Using AI To Hike Menu Prices

By Celeste Bott

A potential class action filed in Illinois federal court Friday accuses McDonald's of flouting federal and state antitrust laws by using artificial intelligence to coordinate prices among independently owned restaurants, causing customers to overpay and average menu prices to rise by roughly 40% in a five-year period.

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High Court Won't Review United Challenge To Vax Bias Class

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review class certification in a religious bias lawsuit over United Airlines' COVID-19 vaccine mandate, leaving in place a Fifth Circuit ruling that found no issue with the trial court's decision.

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Brief

PVC Pipe Price-Fixing Settlements Get Final OKs

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge has given her final blessing to more than $200 million in settlements consumers have struck in their antitrust suit accusing major polyvinyl chloride pipe producers of participating in an illegal price-fixing conspiracy, teeing the rest of the case up for the evidence-gathering phase of litigation.

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7th Circ. Rejects Ex-Club Prez's Claim Of Fake Canceled Debt

By Zak Kostro

The Seventh Circuit upheld the dismissal of a former country club president's claim that the club filed a fraudulent information return with the IRS reporting a canceled debt, saying he failed to make a case for overturning precedent that limited taxpayers' ability to seek damages for fraudulent return filings.

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3 Illinois Updates That Bolster Mortgage Lender Enforcement

Illinois lenders can use clarifications from recent legislative and judicial developments — a law defining the limitations period for home equity loans and two rulings on quiet title actions and lien expirations during foreclosures — to sharpen their enforcement tools and better protect their mortgage rights, says Stephanie Mulcahy at Hinshaw.

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Analysis

Judge Clevenger's Intellect Defined His Time On Fed. Circ.

By Dani Kass

Newly retired Federal Circuit Judge Raymond Clevenger has an "exceptionally keen intellect" that allowed him to spot holes or new paths in cases that the parties or fellow panel members hadn't explored, his former colleagues told Law360.

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Sotomayor Warns Judges: Don't Scare Your Jurors

By Brandon Lowrey

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday criticized an Alabama trial court judge who frightened a pool of prospective jurors by ordering the arrest of a latecomer to jury selection, saying in a statement accompanying a denial of certiorari in the case that fear can undermine a defendant's right to an impartial jury.

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Quinn Emanuel Seeks $750K After Defeating Buzbee Suits

By Lynn LaRowe

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP is seeking nearly $750,000 in attorney fees after defeating claims in Texas state court that it conspired with rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter to retaliate against prominent Houston plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee and two of his former clients.

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9th Circ. Pauses Rogoff's Return As Seattle US Atty

By Jack Karp

The Ninth Circuit has put on hold a Washington federal judge's decision to reinstate Roger Rogoff as Seattle's top federal prosecutor, a post Rogoff held for less than an hour before he was fired by President Donald Trump.

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Jackson Walker Deal Stalled By Standing Issue, Trustee Says

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Trustee's Office told a Texas federal judge that its settlement with Jackson Walker LLP to disgorge fees from cases touched by scandal is on ice while a bankruptcy judge examines the watchdog's standing to seek such relief.

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Eckert Seamans Says Data Breach Harm Is Only Speculative

By James Boyle

Pittsburgh-based law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC told a Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday a pair of proposed class actions claiming damages from a data breach at the firm have not made specific complaints of actual harm caused by the breach and should be dismissed.

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